Update #2 - TAAL - The Rhythm of Life Documentary Film Fundraiser

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the TAAL documentary film fundraiser so far! Your generous contributions are much appreciated! Here is another short video clip for the project. Please considering donating a little something. Every bit helps!

In this clip, I am giving a brief overview of the idea of bol, the vocal syllables of the tabla. It is part of a much larger interview that Caroline did with me in Benares last year. It's a pretty special location, on the bank of the Ganges in Varanasi, on the unpopulated side. If you have been to Benares, you know what I mean... All of Benares is to one side of the Ganges, and there's pretty much nothing at all on the other side. It's a relatively quiet place, though you can hear bits of activity around us, as is the norm in India!

New Video from the TAAL Documentary Film Project

Dear friends,

Here is a new video clip from filmmaker Caroline Tabah's TAAL - The Rhythm of Life documentary film project fundraiser. I hope you enjoy it! Please visit the TAAL fundraising campaign website. The project truly needs your help in order to succeed, so please do consider making a contribution. Every bit helps enormously!


This is taken from a recent performance of Raag Janasammohini with santoor player, Jonathan Voyer at Space Gathering 2012. You may remember seeing the psychedelic photos a few posts ago.

TAAL - The Rhythm of Life - Documentary Film Project

I have some very exciting news to announce! I am touched and honoured to have been chosen to be part of a documentary film about my tabla Guru, Pandit Sharda Sahai, myself, and the Benares tabla gharana. TAAL - The Rhythm of Life, by Montreal filmmaker Caroline Tabah, will highlight Guruji's enormous contribution to the world of music, and document the musical adventures of this Canadian seeking to find his way in the world of music. The film will include tons of concert footage, and interviews with numerous musicians. While quite a lot of footage has already been captured, an enormous amount of work is yet to be done in order for the film to become a reality. Please visit the TAAL Indiegogo campaign to learn more about the film and to see how you can help contribute to this ambitious project. There are some very special rewards for those who contribute generously, so please do have a look and consider helping out.

Please click here to visit the TAAL page, and view the project trailer! Also, please do pass on this link to any of your friends who might also be interested in the project. Caroline and I sincerely appreciate your support!

The worst news...

Pandit Sharda Sahai

Dear friends,

You may have noticed that I have been silent on the blog for a while now. I am sad to report that Guruji, Pandit Sharda Sahai, passed away this past November 20 at Ealing Hospital, London, UK. His loss has been felt the world over, and it has been a very difficult time for all of us who were so fortunate to have known him. Words cannot truly express the loss we are all feeling.


Guruji was renowned as one of the greatest exponents of the Benares baj and pioneered its development worldwide, most notably in Canada, America and the UK. Guruji hailed from five generations of master musicians and whilst he was faithful to the tradition of his ancestors he also was very much a musician of his time.

He profoundly touched all those who came into contact with him with his great wisdom, knowledge and humour. He will be remembered for his spellbinding solo performances, East-West collaborations, and skill and generosity as a teacher. His legacy will live on through his disciples and students and in the Pandit Ram Sahai Sangeet Vidyalaya which he founded in Benares in 1965.


His funeral rites took place in Benares, and memorials were held in London and in Montreal.

Some fond memories:

Ganda-bandh ceremony

Guruji in Montreal, summer 2006

An early photo of Guruji

A memorial page has been set up on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pandit-Sharda-Sahai-Memorial-Page/229627843769196

Guruji's photo at his home in Benares

Announcing the First Annual Summer Tabla Workshop with Shawn Mativetsky

I am very happy to announce the First Annual Summer Tabla Workshop with Shawn Mativetsky, hosted by the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, this summer from July 4 to 10, 2011.

During this intensive hands-on workshop, participants will learn tabla in the tradition of the Benares (Varanasi) gharana. The workshop is open to all levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced). The schedule includes daily group practice sessions, four classes, and two listening/repertoire sessions. Classes are scheduled during the daytime. Students will live and breathe tabla for the duration of the workshop!

Tuition is 250$ and is due by June 27. Students must provide their own tabla. If you don’t already own a set, please contact me, and I will be happy to assist you.

For more information, or to register, please contact me at shawn.mativetsky@mcgill.ca

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Une Première estivale à Montréal :

1^er Atelier annuel de Tabla avec Shawn Mativetsky

À l'École de musique Schulich de l'Université McGill

Montréal, Canada

Du 4 au 10 juillet 2011

Lors de cet atelier intensif les participants apprendront le tabla, instrument de percussion de l'Inde du Nord, selon la tradition du gharana de tabla de Bénarès (Vârânasî). L'atelier est ouvert à tous les niveaux (débutant, intermédiaire, avancé). Le programme inclut des sessions quotidiennes de pratique en groupe, quatre leçons, et deux séances d'écoute de répertoire musical. Les cours auront lieu pendant la journée. Venez vibrer aux rythmes du tabla!

Disciple du légendaire Pandit Sharda Sahai, de la tradition de tabla de Bénarès, Shawn Mativetsky est très sollicité en tant qu’interprète et éducateur.

Tarif : 250 $ payable le 27 juin 2011.

Les étudiants doivent fournir leur propre tabla. Si vous n’en possédez pas déjà, s'il-vous-plaît contacter Shawn. Il sera heureux de vous aider.

Pour de plus amples informations, ou pour vous inscrire, s'il-vous-plaît contacter Shawn Mativetsky à l’adresse suivante: shawn.mativetsky@mcgill.ca

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Soul of Ganges

If I haven't been posting on a regular basis, it's because Sudeshna Maulik and I have been working extremely hard in organizing Soul of Ganges. This was the public launch of our kathak and tabla school, Sangeet Kala Kendra. We have been offering weekly classes at the local Bharat Bhavan for some time now, however we had yet to present our first performance under the banner of the school.

Presented in collaboration with the Kabir Cultural Centre, Soul of Ganges featured a performance by the great sitar maestro, Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan, accompanied by the wonderful Subhajyoti Guha on tabla. The evening opened with Sudeshna's kathak dance performance, accompanied by myself on tabla and Raja Bhattacharya performing lehra on sarod.

We opened with a segment in Dhammar Taal (14 beat cycle), followed by madhya and drut Teentaal (16 beat cycle). As the theme was 'Soul of Ganges', Sudeshna demonstrated aspects of flowing water, as well as depictions of Shiva and Parvati.

After an intermission for chai and samosas, Ustad Shahid Parvez took to the stage and blew everyone away with his virtuosity and depth. We are extremely grateful to Ustadji and Subhajyoti for coming to perform for this special occasion in Montreal.

It was great to see that so many of the Indian music and dance lovers in Montreal came out to support our launch. We couldn't be more pleased with the turnout - the Maison de la culture Frontenac was filled to capacity; we unfortunately had to turn people away. We'll have to book a bigger hall for our next event!

I just did a quick online search, and wow! - someone has already posted a blog and videos. Click here to read Bettina Forget's take on the evening. And here is her YouTube videoclip of our performance:

(Now the world can hear me count in Hindi. Oh boy...)

And a clip of Ustadji:

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Special thanks to Arif Ali Khan from the Kabir Cultural Centre for the photos!

Tabla on 'Des kiwis et des hommes'

Last week, I was invited to be a guest on Des Kiwis et des Hommes, a morning talk show on Radio Canada's television network (the French division of the CBC). The show is broadcast live from Montreal's Jean-Talon market from 9am to 10:30am on weekdays during spring/summer.

We spoke about tabla and Indian culture, and I also got to play a little bit.

The show is now available online (click here). To see the tabla segment, skip to the 6th chapter. I am not sure if this will play outside of Canada, due to copyright, licensing, etc...

Many thanks to the hosts, Francis Reddy and Boucar Diouf, and the amazing crew. A lot goes on behind the scenes for a live show like this, and everything was running like a well-oiled machine!

Kathak in Marlboro, Vermont

From March 5 through 7, I was in residence at Marlboro College (Marlboro, Vermont), along with cellist Jake Charkey and kathak dancer Sudeshna Maulik. We were invited to teach and perform for the faculties of music and dance by Prof. Stan Charkey.

On March 5, Jake and I gave an Indian music workshop for Prof. Charkey's world music class. The class had previously learned a bit about Carnatic music, so we started by talking about some of the similarities and differences between Carnatic (South Indian) and Hindustani (North Indian) classical music. We then got into a discussion of the tabla and taal, and the cello and raag. Jake demonstrated a few different ragas, and I had the class clapping teentaal and rupaktaal. I performed a short solo in rupak, and demonstrated a few tihais.

Later that day, Jake and I accompanied Sudeshna for her dance workshop. There was quite a large turnout, mostly made up of ballet and contemporary dancers. Sudeshna pushed the students hard and they learned quite a lot in the 90 minutes we had together!

On March 6, Jake and I gave some private lessons to interested students. One of the students had previously been to Benares and studied tabla for a few weeks there.

On March 7, we performed in concert for a very enthusiastic audience. First, Jake performed cello solo, opening with a piece in Raag Durga. Alap and gat in jhaptaal (10 beats). I then performed tabla solo in teentaal, vilambit and madhya. After a short pause, we continued with the kathak dance segment, accompanying Sudeshna through vilambit, madhya, and drut teentaal. As always, Sudeshna danced with great energy, precision, and flair and the audience responded with much applause throughout the performance.

Many thanks to the Charkey family for hosting us during our residency. We stayed at their place in Brattleboro. Brattleboro is a friendly, picturesque town, with a large artist community. I hope to return again in the near future!

Benares Chronicles, Part 1

Immediately after my semester of teaching ended at McGill, I hopped on a plane (several, actually) on my way to see Gurujee, Pandit Sharda Sahai, at his home in Benares (or Varanasi, if you prefer). As always, my goal was to practice, learn, attend performances, and to interact with as many Indian classical artists as possible.

When Gurujee is in Benares (he spends about 9 months of the year in London, UK), his house comes alive with family, chelas (disciples), and visiting artists. It goes without saying that I was very well taken care of, with countless great meals and I don't know how many cups of chai. It was great to see everyone that I had met on my previous trips; it has been 3 years since the last time I was in India, and so it felt like a lot of time had passed. As always, I was warmly welcomed back to Gurujee's home as if it was my own.

Sitarist Pt. Amarnath Mishra, Gurujee's oldest friend,

with myself and Gurujee at his home in Benares.

The Faculty of Music of Banaras Hindu University hosted a music festival when I arrived, so for four days in a row, my afternoons were spent at BHU, watching a variety of artists perform. Violin, sitar, vocal, dhrupad, a couple of tabla solos, and Bharat Natyam dance (kathak dance had been scheduled for the last night, but was cancelled for some reason). The highlights for me were Pundlik Bhagwat's tabla solo and Pt. Amarnath Mishra's sitar performance. Incidentally, Amarnathjee is Gurujee's oldest friend. They live around the corner from each other in Kabir Chaura, and performed together for many years. Every time that Amarnathjee visits, it is a great pleasure to see him and Gurujee reminiscing about old times. I was also fortunate to pick up a 4 volume CD set of Amarnathjee's performances (available at UP Cottage Emporium, off Vishwanath Gully, for those of you in Benares). Bhagwat's tabla solo, in 11 beats, was very powerful and dynamic and was a genuine example of the Benares tabla tradition. He is a disciple of Pt. Ishwarlal Mishra, and also had some training with the late Pt. Kishan Maharaj.

Pundlik Bhagwat's tabla solo and Pt. Amarnath Mishra's sitar performance, accompanied by Kuber Nath Mishra at BHU

I was able to get my kathak fix the next evening at Tridev Mandir. This performance opened with numerous (perhaps a few too many) children performing music and dance, followed by the main artists. First a tabla solo by Ram Kumar Mishra accompanied by Pt. Santosh Mishra on sarangi, followed by a performance by kathak dancing twins Gaurav and Saurav Mishra (who are also Pt. Amarnath Mishra's sons). They also danced with their guru's (Ravishankar Mishra) son; unfortunately, I didn't get his name. The live musicians included kathak guru Ravishankar Mishra on tabla, along with Ram Mishra on tabla as well, and a couple of others on sitar and harmonium.

On this trip, I got my tabla from Imtiaz. His tabla are very good quality, and his service was reasonably fast. Basically, there was no fooling around - every tabla that he showed us had a great sound. All that was needed was some slight syahi work for fine tuning. Not bad at all, considering some past experiences with other makers...

At Imtiaz's shop with guru-bhais Jeff Deen (visiting from Miami) and Deepak Sahai.

From the second week, Gurujee organised group practice sessions for all his students. It was great to get together and play, under his guidance, and along with some of his senior disciples including Pt. Kishor Kumar Mishra, Pt. Shiam Kumar Mishra, Deepak Sahai, and Dinanath (Dinnu) Mishra. Like myself, many other disciples were in attendance from outside India, including Jeff Deen (Miami), Anjan Saha (London), and Dr. Frances Shepherd (London).

More to come soon! In the next blog posts - meeting Shen Flindell, a talented tabla player from Australia, and our concert, the United Nations of Indian Classical Music.

Tabla Tracks - New CD Release by Pandit Sharda Sahai!

I am really excited to annouce this news. Pandit Sharda Sahai (my tabla guru) has just released a new CD! This album is really special in many ways. It is in fact a very old recording - from 1976. Music Room - Jalsa Ghar was recorded at Pandit Samta Prasad's house in Benares (Varanasi) upon Pt. Sahai's return from a six-year residency in the United States. This recording has been archived privately all this years, and it is only now that this historic recording has been made public for the first time.

There is a special mood to this recording; it is a live performance in an intimate house concert setting. Over the course of the performance, we can hear the comments made by Pt. Samta Prasad as well as other audience members. There was immense anticipation of this concert, as Pt. Sahai had been away for so many years; everyone wanted to see how he was playing. Needless to say, the performance is absolutely spectacular and the mood is electric. The performance includes many of the compositions that have become Panditji's trademark as well as some rare compositions that are not available on any other recording released to date.

This is an absolute must have for anyone interested in Indian classical music. This is certainly one of the best tabla solo recordings of our time.

This recording has been pressed in limited edition and so will not be available from all retailers. If you are in Montreal, I have a few copies available. Audiorec will be carrying the CD for international sales (as of this posting, I don't see the CD listed online but they do have them), and if you are in London you can also contact the Pandit Ram Sahai Foundation to purchase a copy directly.